The Charlotte Hornets’ injury update versus Toronto Raptors

The Charlotte Hornets have so far lost 61 player-games to injury and personal absences this season. The situation is better now than it’s been, but the Hornets will be without two veterans Wednesday.

Forward Treveon Graham, who has been in the rotation of late, will miss the home game against the Toronto Raptors, his second consecutive scratch. Graham has back spasms, and could not participate in practice Tuesday or shootaround Wednesday. Also, center Cody Zeller is out several more weeks, recovering from surgery to repair a meniscus in his left knee.

Graham plays both small and power forward. He was elevated to the rotation due to recent injuries to Zeller and Frank Kaminsky (who missed a game with a sprained ankle).

Relative to earlier injury problems, the Hornets are pretty healthy right now. But at 11-19 -- 5 1/2 games out of the eighth-best record in the Eastern Conference -- the Hornets are running out of time to get back in playoff contention. They are 11 games away from the season’s midpoint, and face their first West Coast trip starting at the end of December.

This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 12:01 PM with the headline "The Charlotte Hornets’ injury update versus Toronto Raptors."